Prague Travel- The Second Day

經過昨天一天的舟車勞頓,大家都非常疲憊,但是 第二天一大早六點多我們就起床,必須趕車去Florence,然後在坐巴士前往 Kutna Hora, 去看人骨教堂跟中午在殺回來Prague.這裡的早餐相當簡單,不過算蠻好吃的,份量也夠我們吃的飽

我們先坐了公車,結果我聽到廣播說”Florence”,就跟他們說我們要下一站下,結果坐我對面一位小姐聽到我說”Florence”…就跟我說”Next…”原來是下一站才是….還好,Prague遇到的都是好人(有人遇到壞人…稍後在談),不過這邊很慘的就是….在台灣比較大或是比較popular的地方還有英文可以讀,這邊什麼都沒有,我們連售票的地方都找了老半天….後來才發現是在地下室…雖然他應該有告示牌,不過我們什麼捷克字都看不懂,所以也是白搭….,我們好像變成原始人,跟別人說話都是比手畫腳,要去哪個地方直接在地圖上面指,雖然不便,說真的,這樣找路雖然相當不便,但也相當exciting

坐上車之後往 Kutna Hora,約須一個半小時的時間,我們趁機在車上補眠了一下, 此地是一個小鎮 …真的蠻荒涼的,雖然聽說13世紀時這裡是捷克的首都,但是經過30年戰爭,把首都破壞殆盡(我忘記跟誰打仗,好像是瑞典人),所以後來的國王才決定遷都到新都-布拉格的.
照例比手畫腳了一番,才知道還要在轉一次車,轉車的公車司機是個大光頭,又留落腮鬍,很像在打WWF的選手…不過人倒是很好,我們要下車時,還熱心的跟我們指引人骨教堂在哪裡,又是好人一枚,到人骨教堂的路完全不像是要到一個景點的感覺….倒像是軍營旁邊的小路(旁邊有一堵很高的鐵絲網圍牆),走約10分鐘後,我們到了我們在Czech的第一個景點-人骨教堂 Kostelík Vech savtych a kostnic (沒錯!他算是第一個景點….第一天我們只是想到旅館去),說起來,這個教堂的規模並不大,他有名在於人骨的建造,從親切的教堂人員手中接過簡介(他還用中文跟我們說謝謝),才知道這是一個修士建立的,因為此地在以前為捷克首都,而且有一位主教前往耶路薩冷之後,把一把帶回來的土撒在這個地方,使這個地方聲明大噪,許多有錢人紛紛要求葬在這裡….外國人原來也瘋這種東西呀….又過了幾百年,黑死病大流行,這裡也不免俗的掛了幾卡車的人(?),,於是這邊就人口爆炸了(應該說是死亡人口)….因為這個狀況,一位隱士就決定把許多骸骨消毒,然後用這些骸骨建成了這座教堂,其實大部分只是裝飾,我本來以為說連牆壁都是用人骨堆起來, 在水泥補上….事實證明我想的太噁心了,不過對一個人來說,這已是相當了不起的大工程;這個教堂並沒有給我太恐怖的感覺,反而是一股莊嚴的氣氛,我想反而是他刻意將他佈置的比較陰森,不過我走到了入口的下面,站在那邊發呆的時候,Lucy跟我說:”ㄟ….他們在看你耶！”,我抬頭一看,喝!一排約20個骷髏頭真的在看我…..我說服我自己,他們只是要跟我說hi….

之後,我們前往另外一個教堂.St, Barbara ,其實…在國外旅遊,好像莫名其妙都會經過教堂….不過說實在,如果外國人到台灣,應該也會覺得說怎麼都會經過廟宇吧XD. St. Barbara的規模明顯的比人骨教堂大,但是我們去的時候剛好在整修,不過這無損他的美麗,他的建築相當美,不過我沒做功課, 所以不知道這應該是屬於那一種建築風格,之後有機會來的人建議做做功課,會更好玩,不要來什麼都不知道,錯過什麼東西自己也都不知道; 教堂旁邊有一個地方可以鳥瞰整個小鎮,蠻不錯的,視野也沒有被遮掉太多

參觀完教堂也已經12點多了,大家也是饑腸轆轆了,於是在一家小餐館買便當,這邊吃的是道地的捷克料理,他的馬鈴薯煮爛,淋上醬汁,撒一些香料,就是捷克一般可見的家常菜,比英國的Fish & Chips好多了…又便宜!一個大雞腿便當只要合台幣70元.吃完飯,我們就搭車回Prague. 決定利用下午的時間先去逛舊城廣場.

回程的時候是坐不同的路線,也幾乎每一個站都停,讓我們擔心說是不是司機耍我們,跟我們亂說這一班可以到布拉格,一路上看到的盡是農田,草原及馬羊牛等,我發現這才是真實的捷克.還好,總算坐到了布拉格,不過並不知道是哪個地方,只知道是一個Metro, 查了一下發現是一個叫做Skalka的遙遠終點站.同樣,丟了20kc(這邊的票很便宜,20kc可以坐75分鐘,無論你是哪一種大眾交通工具都適用),我們直奔舊城廣場那一站(Mustek),到那邊的時候,很巧的剛好趕上天文鐘響,我滿心期待的等著,結果,出來一隻機器鳥,出來”布穀”了四聲,就結束了…說真的,比台北Sogo的鐘還遜…..

我們到那邊的時候是下午四點,天已經黑了,不過舊城廣場前有許多小攤販,依舊非常熱鬧,我們吃了這邊的大亨堡,才40kc,覺得很便宜,不過這在台灣也可以買一個便當了…我只能說,英國待久了,果然會讓人價值觀混亂掉.後來我們分開四處逛,我跟Lucy跑到了火藥塔那邊,哎!果然晚上什麼都拍不好,這時候,就開始怨嘆消費型相機不夠力,還是DSLR才是王道呀!不過那又會是一條不歸路….窮…..會合的時候,Leon悲慘的看著我 ”我的錢被偷了”…..天呀!遇到壞人了,Leon將背包背在胸前,但是錢就那麼不見了,我的背包背後面卻沒有事情,Leon說他發現有一個女生之前對他笑….我只能說…小偷是會看人下手的,Leon雖然帥,但就是會讓人覺得他”純真”,這種人真的是走在路上”咩咩”叫的…小偷不下手恐怕都難.不過,我們要還是要可憐他,因為過不到20分鐘,他又被偷了一次…這個真的有誇張到.來這邊,扒手多多,真的要小心….

後來,遇到了一個人,跟我們推薦餐廳,我們跟他說已經吃飽了,他還跟我們說”Tomorrow”,我不禁佩服起他們的工作態度,比英國人敬業太多了,又加上他現在已經是歐盟的一份子,我突然發現這個國家的潛力無限但是相對於法國德國等高消費國家,在這邊的工資低廉,土地原料又便宜且取得方便, ,難怪郭台銘會選擇在此投資,實在有獨到的眼光.後來我們決定到一家店,這是Leon強力推薦的,只不過,倒了!換成另外一家店了….我只能再強調一次,Leon是很純真的….因為他手上那本資料是2002年版的,不過我們還是到這家新店去,還蠻好吃的,我們要走了之後,店員還跟我們說”阿裡阿多”…好吧!虛榮心作祟,被認成日本人比被認成韓國人或是大陸好多了...

捷克五日遊(行前及第一天)

從英國到捷克的花費是相當便宜的,機票加住宿共花了台幣不到一萬元
但是前往捷克之前,是經過一番波折的,
當決定要去時,我的護照仍延簽未歸,
本來還不太擔心的,但是後來隨著時間慢慢逼近,我開始緊張了,
因為辦捷克的簽證還需要一個星期的時間
於是我開始去student union追護照,其中一次去還被冰雹襲擊,
在出發前不到兩星期時,我的護照終於歸來,
馬不停蹄在當日用First class寄到捷克大使館,
在出發前兩天的早上,在老天爺看在我被冰雹打的份上,
終於讓我拿到了捷克的簽證

出發的12/20號,是一個漫長的日子,
我跟Lucy, Leon, Caesar還有Kay五人早上七點,
由Reading直接搭火車到Gatwick機場,
迎接我們的是一條沒有盡頭的出境隊伍,從早上九點左右開始排隊,
等到中午12點終於經過安檢程序….
後來才發現原來那麼慢的原因是因為外套要脫,鞋子也要檢查,異常麻煩,
只能說英國人被恐怖攻擊炸怕了,連我後來在出境大廳買的兩杯飲料因為太燙而暫放在電話亭上,兩分鐘不到回來,居然也被不見了…
大概警察以為是疑似爆裂物而拿走
原本的班機也因為許多乘客尚未安檢而Delay了兩個小時,直到12點半才登機,
我們坐的是Easy Jet,後來才知道原來坐他們的飛機是沒有劃位的…
先搶到的先贏…..這真是一個新奇的體驗!坐過那麼多家也沒有這種例子

經過了三個小時的飛行,機長告知已到了捷克,我從窗外望出去,
只見在一大片草原上,有幾條漫長的車流,
下了飛機,pass過一個面無表情的通關人員,領了行李之後出關,
發現Prague機場的規模好像比松山機場還小,
此時當地時間四點半,天色已是伸手不見五指,我們又帶了許多行李,
於是決定先至旅館放行李,
坐了119路的公車往市區,車票才20克朗,跟ㄥ英國比起來真是太便宜了…
下了公車先買了一份Prague地圖(其實他們是寫成Praha),然後開始亂找,
終於在一個小角落找到這個地鐵站(Dejviski),接著走到了下面準備搭車…
天呀!怎麼搭呀? 全部都是捷克文,連個英文字都沒有,
去死吧!英文! 你以為你到哪裡都可以用嗎?
更慘的是,連個地圖都沒有,我們怎麼知道要坐去哪一站呀?
五個人在那邊徬徨不已的時候,一個英國人出現了(聽口音應該是),
他熱心的教我們如何坐去我們要的那一站,
當我們下了地鐵站之後,又有一個熱心的中國人教我們一次,
終於讓我們順利坐到了我們要的F…
不過我看他們的地鐵站,個人是覺得相當有古意,
很有美國(台灣也有一些)70年代公共建築的味道,
就是以較黑的木頭搭配金色塑膠的感覺,
我不太知道怎麼去形容,也沒有拍照,非常可惜
值得一提的是他們的電扶梯速度相當快,
我一上去整個人差點往後倒,大概是台北捷運電扶梯1.5倍的速度,
後來從外面往電扶梯看相當有趣,
他們的人頭一個一個相當快的從地底冒出來,很像工廠的生產線
出了地鐵後又開始搞不清楚東西南北,
於是gamble了其中一條路,沒想到還真的走對了,
Leon說旅館跟他說十分鐘會走到, 沒想到走了半小時還未走到,
其中經過兩家中國餐館讓我們精神一振,商議待會兒可以過來吃,
經過一段長長的路,終於被我們找到接下來四天要住的Apollon旅館,
去了兩家餐館後,都發現已客滿(而且個人覺得兩家店都有點不歡迎我們),
於是又折回中國餐館去吃,真是又便宜又大碗,
我一個人吃了一份鍋貼,一份鴨肉叉燒飯加一瓶飲料,才花了159克朗,
合台幣220,不到四鎊,這在英國連個三明治加咖啡可能都沒有,
在捷克我吃到快撐不下去,好感動!
後來又到了超商買飲料及零食,天呀!加起來才2鎊,
我估計如果同樣的東西在英國一定破五鎊,
不過Leon說得對”在英國整個價值觀都不對了!”
連去小小一間便利商店我都想狂買東西,
因為在英國就是這樣,你一去Tesco就是要買一堆東西….
我想將來回台灣可能會很慘!
在結帳的時候,店員一直按錯然後跟我道歉了兩三次
(當然用英文, 用捷克語我也不會懂),
他說這是第一天上班,
我很想跟他說”沒關係,這也是我第一天到你的國家”



(待續)

My First Boxing Day

從布拉格回來,剛好接上了熱鬧的Boxing day,
我的flatmate跟我說早上八點就要去,
不過我想說早上八點還是漆黑一片,就懶惰睡到中午才去,
結果悲劇發生了



都空空的了...那我要買什麼東西呀.....好慘!
發現Boxing day真的是Boxing day(拳擊日),
跟外國人搶衣服根本就搶不贏,好像在打橄欖球的感覺...
什麼時候要被撞飛出去都不知道

不過我第二天還是拼了命去幫我哥搶了Burberry的襯衫,
老哥!感謝我吧!我可是自己啥都沒買
我直到第三天才跑到DIESEL跟ZARA搶了一些褲子,
連試穿都沒有,先拿回來再說....不然就會買不到...
天呀...我什麼時候也成為菜籃媽媽一族了呀!?

Greece Chocolate Cookies

最近女朋友做了一種巧克力餅乾,他說是朋友從希臘人那邊學來教他做的,
不過不知道叫什麼,就先叫做"希臘式巧克力餅乾"吧!
非常好吃,我all flatmate吃了都讚不絕口,
我放了幾個草莓做顏色搭配,看起來頗具名家風範,
如果拿到倫敦的高級餐廳賣,一客可以賣個20鎊吧!



據我女朋友口述,我整理下來的做法如下:

準備材料:
錫箔紙
Tesco牌餅乾-一包
可可粉-八湯匙
icing sugar-八湯匙
無鹽butter-50克

做法:
一 先把餅乾用碎-撥成一小塊一小塊,約一個指甲大
二 將無鹽butt煮沸成液狀-放置一旁
三 將可可粉/icing sugar用手攪拌讓所有材料覆蓋上
四 最後將液狀butter倒進去
上述全部混在一起,倒在錫箔紙上並固定成長條狀,
然後用錫箔紙緊緊包住,就直接放進冰箱,約三至五個小時即可完成

The review of Godfather

I saw the movie 'Godfather' recently. I have heard many news and comments for this movie however until today I haven't seen this movie. I have to admit that this movie is excellent and what makes it brillent is not only the godfather part1 but also the following continuation part2 and part3. The all three parts integrate into the complete one. The part1 only introduce the start of a new godfather and a death of the old godfather. Although Al Pacino's performance is quite great, the performance of his father- Marlon Brando is superior than his- That's just my private thought. Maybe that's due to the time of the movie is too short for Al to actor but it's dfficult to blame for that becuase the movie wanna model the characteristic of Al who don't wanna inherit the family business forced to do so. If the movie focus on Al too much then the audience will soon realize the importance of Al and won't pay attention to the performance of Marlon. So I think that the continuation cannot help to actor becuase too many stories should be told.

First, the rising of old godfather and whole family and second, the following stories of new godfather both need to be stated. So we can see the Godfather part2 introduces the both stories. To explain that new godfather- Macheal memorize those stories of his father, I'd rather believe that the director wanna organize the whole story and introduce to the audience. The part2 is excellent because of the combination of the current time and old time.

I am not a professional movie reviewer but I can see the significant skill of the director. Francis Ford Coppola, who is the great diector of Godfather, usually uses door to represent some prospects. Such as in the part1, Macheal had a serious quarrel with his wife-Kay. After that, Kay went to another room to get some wine and wanted to recover the relationship between them. However, one man just came in and closed the door. This also means the interruption of relationship between them. Moreover, in part2, when Kay came to see their children, Macheal just closed the door and also end the their relationship in person. In part3, Macheal assigned Vincent to be the next godfather and left to another room. That means that he formally gave up the power of godfather and the end of his reponsibility.

After all, this is a nice movie.I strongly recommand this movie to be the top 5 of worth-looking flim.

有感而發

用了mac之後,老地方大概是我最常去的論壇,
每天都會去看看最近mac有什麼新資訊或是大家在討論什麼東西,
只是最近我發現一個現象,尤其在新手發問區特別嚴重
'好像有些朋友說話好像不太有禮貌又或言不及義'
我不知道為什麼,也不想引起筆戰,只是說說我自己的感想

最近在交流區,我發現有一些朋友,尤其是剛接觸mac的人,
常常會說一些讓人哭笑不得或是看不懂的話-我不是指問題本身,
問題每個人都會遇到,尤其是剛接觸mac的人,
因為大部分都從windows跳過來,難免會有一些操作上的困難,
我自己本身剛接觸的時候,就因為一個輸入法不知道怎麼選字而困擾了很久;
我指的是一些敘述的方法,例如問一個別人看不懂的問題,
Ex:'各位大大,我的mac出問題了,能幫我解決一下嗎?'-----但是問題呢?
又或者是'怎麼那麼奇怪呀......這個怎麼會變成這樣呢?'-----什麼變成怎麼樣?
那些前輩們知道你的電腦出問題,但是問題出在哪裡他們不知道,也就無從回答起,不是嗎?
應該是在你的title上面就說明清楚你的問題,summarize一下,
而在content本身更詳盡說明你的型號,你的問題等.....這樣大家才知道要怎麼幫你解決問題

而說到沒禮貌,這個也是目前一大問題,這個又要分成兩方面:
1. 問題已解決:有些人在問題被解決之後,人就消失了,連個謝字都不說一聲,這並不是有禮貌的行為.
2. 問題沒解決,然後說'怎麼沒人可以幫我解決'或是'難道這裡都沒人會嗎?'又或是回答錯了結果回來罵人等行為...
我要說:這些前輩們不是整天坐在電腦前面等著回答你的問題,回答你的問題也賺不了你的錢,
他們只是覺得大家都是mac一族,希望能在台灣把mac壯大起來

Actually,我自己也是新手,只用了mac還不到一年,之前也是有一堆問題,
所以常上老地方問問題,現在回去看以前的文章,也覺得問問題問的很沒禮貌,
甚至有一次去參加網聚的時候,我覺得在當時並沒有很有禮貌,好像在跟人家裝熟.....
在此也要跟那兩位前輩說聲不好意思,小弟不是很懂事(現在也是...)

而因著自己是新手,所以對於新手們的心情也了解,所以也想對前輩們說一些話:
請前輩們多多體諒我們這些後進,幾乎所有人都是pc switcher,多少會不適應,
也幾乎都是因為覺得mac比pc好才會換過來的,
但是有些情況下,會發現mac跟想像中有落差,而對mac失望,
或是急於解決一些問題而口氣不佳,
像我開始用的時候,wireless一直訊號不穩,所以覺得怎麼apple會這樣..乾脆回去用pc就好了等想法,
(後來才知道網卡沒裝好....iBook 1.2G,很多前輩應該知道這件事)
所以能體諒新手們的感覺,所以希望前輩們如果被問到覺得很蠢的問題,請不要生氣或嘲笑,
畢竟大家都是mac一族,相煎何太亟?
我以前也會去攝影家手札,後來覺得新手問問題被罵或被嘲弄的情況越來越嚴重,
造成我不想再去那邊,我常來老地方,就是覺得這裡對新手很友善,資訊也相當豐富,
所以我覺得老地方不會像那邊一樣戰雲密佈,這應該感謝各位前輩的努力,
也要感謝白大及各管理員的用心,使得老地方成為許多mac族的最愛!

最後,希望大家都能夠對這裡盡一份心力,努力讓他成為不只是老地方,還是個好地方!

My recent new stuff-Apple Keyboard

Though I really want to blog all new stuffs I acquire, I do have no time so I can just introduce two of them. The first one is Apple Keyboard. I purchased it in Sep from a Japanese lady. How I love Japanese so much! This lady sold me a mirror, a Apple keyboard and a electric heater for only £10. So cheap!!! If I buy all of them new in the store, I need to pay £40. And the most important is that they are almost new, not the broken or rubbish things. Thanks for her again.

Too far from today's point. Since I bought iBook, I used it very carefully. However, I still afraid of its abrasion. So I really wanna buy a new keyboard but it's hard to find a suitable one. Then the Japanese lady mentioned above appeared. How lucky I am! After getting this keyboard, I scrutinized it in a quite detail way. This keyboard was really deserved to be so expensive. The Apple spirit was entirely inside.Equitted with Apple computer, its functions can amplify to the max and be connected with Apple computer closely! That's somehing I really recommand to buy, if you also have a Apple.

Evaluation of Apple & M$ 2007 strategy

After debating the SWOT analysis of two companies, the evaluations for their future plan also should be discussed. Both Apple Computers and Microsoft Corporation have the important plans for 2007. That year could even be the most competitive year for those two companies. Microsoft Corporation will release the new operation system named Vista and the new digital music player named Zune. Those two products are the main products of Microsoft Corporation in 2007. As for Apple Computers, it will release new operation system named OSX 10.5 and new serial of iPod. Although many other products are expected to be released in 2007, Apple Computers usually keeps the new products confidential. A new generation of iPod is that most people predict to be released in 2007 in order to meet Zune, so they will strongly compete with each other next year.


The evaluations of Microsoft Corporation’s policy are below. First, Vista, the new Microsoft operation system, will have six different versions to meet the different needs. That seems a considerable policy to customers. However, sometimes the consumers may be confused about which one they should choose. Second, It is very unusual for Microsoft Corporation to delay the release date of Vista many times from Autumn 2005 to Spring 2007. It will have the strongly negative impacts to the company because it may be thought that the company has no very precise plan. However, many people still look forward to Vista. According to the information that Microsoft announces, Vista has many stronger functions.


However, many people are also stunned by the high system requirement and high price of Vista. If Vista requires such a high equipment, but many people may need to change their current computers. It is argued that is negative for consumers because they do not want to spend money and tend to use the current operation system. Many people also feel upset about the high price. Those factors will affect the sales of Vista.


Compared with the uncertainty of Microsoft, Apple’s new operation system seems to be more stable especially the embarrassing period of switching IBM CPU to Intel CPU is almost over. It should be the time for Apple Computers to enjoy the benefits. However, the majority of computer users still use the Microsoft XP and they are not familiar with Apple’s operation system. What Apple Computers can do is to attract more users to use their operation system to extend their market.


Another plan of Microsoft Corporation is the release of new digital player named Zune. Compared with iPod, Zune has more functions. It seems to be the killer of iPod. However, many people now have already owned a digital player and it is a question that they want to buy the new one. It seems to be significant that \some people, especially the iPod fans, won’t buy Zune. Another doubt comes from Zune itself.


Although Zune has a number of functions, people do not really want those new technologies. Take Sony as an example. Sony’s last PDAs has many fantastic functions. It was released in Summer 2004 and many of its functions were still superior to most current PDA but Sony received bad revenues from PDA because of its high price and many people do not need such the new functions at that time. That leads to Sony to stop its PDA sales in Autumn 2005. According to the example, it should be proved by time if Zune brings positive or negative impacts to Microsoft Corporation.


Those are the evaluations of the future plan for 2007 of two companies. It seems that Microsoft Corporation has less positive impacts. However, it has already been very strong in this industry. They can use their strengths to excess Apple Computers. The consequence can not be known until the year really come.

Prison Break

Prison Break


This is the maxseries I saw recently. It's kind great. Though the following actions are not hard to expect. But still pretty cool.

Google買下Youtube!!

兩個Youtube的創立者直接在網路上使用這支影片作為Announcement

Google 買下 YouTube -轉貼自老地方冰果室
10/10 11:08 pm 五樣
網路最大的搜尋引擎公司 Google 於稍早證實了確實以 16.5 億美金的股價買下了網路影片供應商YouTube 公司。 不過雖說買下，但 YouTube 公司仍維持原樣，沒有裁員的舉動，也沒有任何公司內部結構上的變動。預計 YouTube 此舉也能為該公司帶來更廣大的市場，不僅能與 Google 大量的廣告做結合，在搜尋方面也能與 Google 的搜尋引擎做整合。 預計政府核准順利的話，Google 以及 YouTube 將能在今年年底時完成併購的所有動作。而此舉也將讓 Google 成為全球最大的網路影片供應商。

Google到底還是買下Youtube了....
自己的Google Video不爭氣,只好把對手買下,
我想如果Flickr沒有被yahoo給搶走的話,
現在應該也是Google的一員了吧!
因為Picasa也是不太爭氣,
我想,再怎麼厲害的公司,還是會有被對手超越的一天,
把威脅自己的對手給吃掉,應該是一步上上策吧!
如果當年Microsoft吃下Apple,或是吃下Google,
今天也不用落得被圍剿的地步,
雖然他還是很大,不過已經不如當年風光

最近真是刺激連連......

併購相關新聞最近也有另外一則:
BENQ放棄SIEMENS手機部門,
我想,當初大家雖然普遍不看好,不過BENQ確實也苦撐的超乎想像!
雖然他輸了裡子,但是至少他贏了面子!
Bring Taiwan to Worldwide!

ok....news about that maybe I can talk later in the future.